This chapter covers the process to upgrade a WebLogic FlexDeploy installation.

Startup Parameters for WebLogic

Revisit startup parameters (JVM Arguments) for WebLogic server as defined in Installation for Weblogic.

Step 1. Identify location of artifact repository

Launch the WebLogic console and navigate to Environment / Servers under the domain structure. Click on Flex_Server1 (or whatever the name of your FlexDeploy server is) under the configuration tab. Select the server start tab and look at the flexagon.fd.repository.root argument to identify the location of the artifact repository.

Step 2. Stop FlexDeploy application

Before shutting down the application, make a determination of which Patch Release files to run by saving the Build Time on the About window of your FlexDeploy installation.

From the WebLogic console, navigate to Environment / Servers and click on the Control tab. Check the box in front of Flex_Server1 (or whatever the name of your FlexDeploy server is) and select one of the shutdown options to stop the application.

Step 3. Backup Oracle schemas

For back-out purposes, it is recommended that a database backup of the Oracle database be taken using standard tools like RMAN. Another option would be to export the FD, FD_ADMIN, and FF schemas using data pump. The schemas can be exported using the following data pump command.

Backup Oracle Database

expdp system directory=DATA_PUMP_DIR dumpfile=fd_bkup.dmp schemas=FD,FF,FD_ADMIN

If this database is exclusively used for just FlexDeploy application, you can rely on Database backup and recovery processes (RMAN) instead of export data procedure.

Step 4. Backup artifact repository

It is recommended that a backup of the artifact repository file system be taken in case a back-out is required. The location of the artifact repository was identified in the first step of this document. Standard file backup procedures can be followed. Optionally, the following command (unix only) can be used to create a tar file backup of the entire directory.

Backup artifact repository

cd <artifact repository location>
tar –cvzf artifact.tar.gz <artifact repository location>

Step 5. Upgrade Oracle schemas

From the downloaded zip file, extract the /database/oracle/upgrade folder. This folder includes a number of folders containing migration.sql and patch release SQL files, which upgrade the FlexDeploy schemas.

FlexDeploy 5.1 migration includes updates to Unique Constraint for FF.DB_PROPERTIES_DATA. If you have duplicates then it needs to be fixed up prior to starting migration. Run following SQL to check if there are any duplicates. If there are duplicates, work with Flexagon support team to resolve prior to migration.

SELECT * FROM (SELECT DB_PROPERTIES_ID, SEQUENCE_NUMBER, COUNT(1) NUMROWS
FROM FF.DB_PROPERTIES_DATA 
GROUP BY DB_PROPERTIES_ID, SEQUENCE_NUMBER) 
WHERE NUMROWS>1;

You will need to execute one or more SQL script(s) from the version of FlexDeploy you currently have, up to the latest version. And they must be executed in that order.

Follow this guideline when deriving SQL files to be executed.

Current version is 4.6.0.0 or higher

Look at Build Version in About window.

Current version is before 4.6.0.0

You can find which files that you may have already executed by doing "select version, created_on, created_by from fd.fd_flexdeploy_version order by created_on desc" database query.
Or you can view list of patches by using Administration - FlexDeploy Patches in FlexDeploy.

See some examples below to help you understand database upgrade process.

Upgrading 5.0.0.0 (or 5.0.0.x) to 5.1.0.0

v5.0.0.0-to-v5.1.0.0/migration.sql

Upgrading 4.6.0.0 (or 4.6.0.x) to 5.0.0.0

v4.6.0.0-to-v5.0.0.0/migration.sql
v5.0.0.0-to-v5.1.0.0/migration.sql

Upgrading 4.0 to 5.0.0.0

v4.0-to-v4.0.1/migration.sql
v4.0.1-to-v4.0.2/migration.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/migration.sql
v4.0.3-to-v4.5.0/migration.sql
v4.5.0-to-v4.6.0.0/migration.sql
v4.6.0.0-to-v5.0.0.0/migration.sql
v5.0.0.0-to-v5.1.0.0/migration.sql

The 4.0.2-to-4.0.3/migration.sql file includes all of the 403PatchRelease*.sql files in it. Patch Release SQL files are only necessary if you are on a 4.0.3 or 4.5.x Release.

If you are upgrading from a 4.0.3 Patch Release, follow the date based SQL files in sequence by Date. If you have already a applied specific Patch Release patch then skip it. You can make determination of which Patch Release files to run by looking at Build Time on the About window of your FlexDeploy installation that you saved from a previous step. After completing the last 403PatchRelease, run the migration4.0.3_to_4.5.0.sql file and v4.5.0-to-v4.6.0.0/migration.sql. Contact Flexagon support for details if you are not sure. See example below.

Upgrading 4.0.3 (build time 4/23/2017 or earlier) to 5.0.0.0

v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_04-24-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_05-01-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_05-5-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_05-11-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_05-22-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_06-14-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_07-19-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_07-24-2017.sql
v4.0.3-to-v4.5.0/migration.sql
v4.5.0-to-v4.6.0.0/migration.sql
v4.6.0.0-to-v5.0.0.0/migration.sql
v5.0.0.0-to-v5.1.0.0/migration.sql

Upgrading 4.0.3 (build time 5/11/2017) to 5.0.0.0

v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_05-22-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_06-14-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_07-19-2017.sql
v4.0.2-to-v4.0.3/403PatchRelease_07-24-2017.sql
v4.0.3-to-v4.5.0/migration.sql
v4.5.0-to-v4.6.0.0/migration.sql
v4.6.0.0-to-v5.0.0.0/migration.sql
v5.0.0.0-to-v5.1.0.0/migration.sql

Upgrading 4.5.1 Patch Release 11-27-2017 to 5.0.0.0

v4.0.3-to-v4.5.0/450PatchRelease_12-09-2017.sql
v4.0.3-to-v4.5.0/450PatchRelease_01-12-2018.sql
v4.0.3-to-v4.5.0/450PatchRelease_01-30-2018.sql
v4.5.0-to-v4.6.0.0/migration.sql
v4.6.0.0-to-v5.0.0.0/migration.sql
v5.0.0.0-to-v5.1.0.0/migration.sq

Executing migration files

These scripts should be executed as system, sys, or another user which has privileges to create objects in other schemas, performs grants, etc. You can load and execute these scripts using other tools such as Toad or SQL Developer, but the instructions here are for using the sqlplus client. Following is example of script execution for Oracle, for PostgreSQL & MySQL use appropriate tools to execute migration scripts.

sqlplus

Oracle sqlus is part of the Oracle Client, and may be executed on any host which has it installed. If the Oracle Client is not installed on the same host as where you are installing FlexDeploy, you can copy the scripts to another host which has it installed.

Make sure to spool output to a file, so it can be analyzed later if necessary.

To launch sqlplus:

export ORACLE_HOME=<your Oracle Home directory>
export ORACLE_SID=<the SID of your database>
spool migration4.5.0.out #(change for each script execution so logs are preserved)
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus #(login as sys or system when prompted)
SQL> <<execute scripts as shown above>>

If running on another host other than the database server, you must update your tnsnames file and and launch sqlplus as follows:

export ORACLE_HOME=<your Oracle Home directory>
export ORACLE_SID=<the SID of your database>
spool migration4.5.0.out #(change for each script execution so logs are preserved)
$ORACLE_HOME/bin/sqlplus system@<tnsname>
SQL> <<execute scripts as shown above>>

For example,

Step 6. Uninstall Old EAR

At this point, we have already stopped FlexDeploy managed server, so we can uninstall old EAR file. From the WebLogic console, select Deployments under the Domain Structure tree on the left. Check the box in front of the FlexDeploy application and click Delete.

If your domain is using Production Mode, perform Lock and Edit and once Delete is completed, Activate Changes.

Step 7. Deploy New EAR

From the WebLogic console, select Deployments under the Domain Structure tree.

If your domain is using Production Mode, perform Lock and Edit and once Deploy is completed, Activate Changes.

Click Install button to begin process of installing new EAR file. You can either Upload EAR file using console or place it on AdminServer host in <Domain Home>/applications folder.

To upload EAR file, click the upload your file(s) link, then select Choose File under Deployment Archive & select downloaded EAR file from your computer, then Select the application to deploy and click Next (EAR name will match the file upload instead of what is shown in the example).

Alternatively you can keep file in <Domain Home>/applications folder and select using links in Recently Used Paths.

Select Install this deployment as an application and click Next.

Select the FlexDeploy_Server1 (may be different name for Managed Server in your environment) to deploy this EAR to and click next.

The EAR must be targeted to either a single managed server or a cluster containing only a single managed server.

Click Finish.

Make sure the EAR deploys successfully by verifying the health of the FlexDeploy deployment. If FlexDeploy-WLS is not active, make sure to start it.

Step 8. Copy Plugins for Auto Upload

FlexDeploy download zip contains plugin jar files (application/plugins for Tomcat download and plugins for Weblogic download). You just need to copy plugins from download zip to plugins folder folder shown below & they will be automatically uploaded and activated on the Server startup.

This is very useful during initial install as well as when upgrading FlexDeploy, as there may be many new plugins or versions available as part of new FlexDeploy release, but you can use the procedure any time.

Locate flexagon.fd.install.root folder for your FlexDeploy installation, which is FlexDeploy working directory. This is specified on the Java command line. For example, -Dflexagon.fd.install.root=c:/temp/flexdeploy/application.
- For Tomcat, you can look for this information in setenv.bat or setenv.sh file depending whether using Windows or Unix.
- For Weblogic, find it in the managed server startup settings.
Create plugins folder, if it does not exist under this folder.
Copy the desired plugins from the extracted zip file /plugins to this location. Tomcat and WebLogic download zip files have plugins stored in different locations.
- Tomcat Download - application/plugins
- WebLogic Download - plugins

Step 9. Start FlexDeploy application

From the WebLogic console, navigate to Environment / Servers under the Domain Structure tree. On the control tab, select Flex_Server1 (or whatever your server is named) and click on Start.

Verify that the state of the application is Active / OK when the start completes.

If the FlexDeploy application on the Deployments page does not show Active / OK, Start it as well.

Step 10. Launch FlexDeploy

Verify that the application launches. Verify the version by selecting "About" from the drop-down which appears next to the name of the logged in user in the FlexDeploy header. Validate that the build version matches the expected version.